The Fifth and Final Show

We opened The Maid's Tragedy to a, dare I say, raucous crowd. Opening nights at the ASC are pay-what-you-will previews. Folks get to decide how much they want to pay at the end of the show. But on Friday night, 100+ people had bought tickets ahead of time to ensure seats. That's a great sign.

The hometown crowds like these, I find, are often full of folks who adore the ASC. Having a full house of of superfans is a lot of fun. It's not necessarily indicative of future houses, but still a great gift. That said, I'm surprised with how funny folks thought the show was. There were a lot of younger folks in the audience, and they seemed more prone to laughter than others.

The Maid's Tragedy is...I dunno...I was about to write ridiculous, but that's not quite right. It's angsty. It feels operatic. It's extreme. It's bloody (and we're using blood packets for this show--a first for my time at ASC)! There seemed to be a lot of folks who knew the story--I only say this because there were knowing responses when Aspatia makes her first entrance and Melantius congratulates her on her supposed wedding day (and it's anything but...her betrothed has been set up to marry Evadne instead).

It was a lot of fun to do the Diphilus/Strato insult exchange after the big wedding night scene. I must say Chris and I brought the house down, or at least shook up the foundation a bit. (The exchange has a great "your mom" line. Those Early Modern playwrights knew a thing or two about sophomoric comedy.) During this scene (and much of my other scenes), I felt so at ease. I haven't been this relaxed for an opening in a long time.

All in all, I think it was a successful opening. It's hard to believe that we don't have to rehearse anymore for the Ren Season. We have three weeks of performances left.

The rest of the weekend, we played to very generous houses. Each of the shows had great turnout. I hope this continues as the weather warms up. The Saturday matinee of Epicene got into a good groove. I got to the playhouse 90 minutes early, reviewed all of my lines, and was able to get a luxurious warm-up in before music call. I never called "prithee." I did have some "word burgers" as we call them here--obvious stumbling over some words. John and I got a little kerfluffled during the cursing of Cutbeard exchange, but we were able to get back on track quite easily. It happens.

And now, I'm enjoying a full 72 hours off. It's our "spring break." We don't have to return to the theatre until Wednesday night. I'm catching up on sleep, enjoying my Amazon Prime trial, and making headway through a giant novel The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. It just won the Booker Prize. This is a dense, intricate novel set in the New Zealand gold rush in the 1860s. I also borrowed The Hollow Crown series from the library. I've seen the Richard II (which is excellent) and am eager to review that along with the Henry IVs and V. Additionally, I've received cuts for upcoming productions of Hamlet and Much Ado. I've transferred all of those into my Arden editions.